Astronaut Whose Return to Earth Keeps Getting Delayed Says She’s Been ‘Trying to Remember What It’s Like to Walk’
Astronaut Suni Williams, who has been stuck in space since June, is opening up about some of the things she hasn’t done in months.
Speaking with students at Needham High School from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, Jan. 27, Williams opened up about life in the space station, according to CBS affiliate WBZ-TV.
“I’ve been up here long enough right now I’ve been trying to remember what it’s like to walk,” the Needham native told the students. “I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float where you are right here.”
Williams, 59, and fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, 61, have been at the ISS since June 2024 after their spacecraft experienced mechanical issues and was eventually sent back home without them.
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Williams also told students her extended time in space came as “a little bit of a shock.”
“We knew that it would be probably a month or so, honestly. But the extended stay was just a little bit different,” she explained, according to WBZ-TV.
NASA
Suni Williams, Expedition 72 flight engineer and commander, pose for a fun holiday season portrait while speaking on a ham radio inside the International Space Station’s Columbus laboratory module.
Currently, Williams and Wilmore are expected to return to Earth in the spring. In December 2024, NASA announced that the spacecraft that will bring them home won’t be ready to launch until “no earlier than late March 2025.”
The pair of astronauts have celebrated multiple holidays in space, including Thanksgiving and Christmas — and in January, Williams went for her first spacewalk since arriving at the ISS months prior.
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Williams and Wilmore even voted in the 2024 U.S. elections from space, a process that NASA made “very easy,” according to Wilmore.
The Dragon capsule that will take Williams and Wilmore home arrived at the ISS in late September 2024.
NASA HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams
NASA previously said it is working with SpaceX to “complete processing” on the Dragon spacecraft for the mission.
“We appreciate the hard work by the SpaceX team to expand the Dragon fleet in support of our missions and the flexibility of the station program and expedition crews as we work together to complete the new capsule’s readiness for flight,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement in December 2024.
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